"A life of pleasure makes even the strongest mind frivolous at last." — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A Scout Tee sewn from an old beach sarong…and how to fold your shirts for traveling

From beach sarong to T-shirt! I bought a beach sarong on a trip to Brazil a few years ago (made in Indonesia, ironically) and after a while the fine woven fabric had ripped. Ruing the loss of these great colours and print, I regretfully tossed it into my textile recycling bag, but a few weeks later I realized that this sarong would make a great lightweight T-shirt. I’m not normally a fan of tees made of woven fabric but these colours demanded I give Grainline Studio’s Scout Tee a shot.

Much has been written about the Scout Tee as many sewists have made it, so I won’t say much except to add that the cut is way too generous. I cut the size that corresponded to my body measurements but was still swimming in it width-wise. I ended up taking it in along the sides by at least 2 or 3 inches. Oh and I’ll also add this comment: I don’t get the hype around the Scout Tee. This pattern costs $16 US which is a small fortune for such a basic tee. ‘Nuff said.

Recently I went to Berlin for a vacation. Here are a couple of shots taken inside the Hamburger Banhof museum of contemporary art in Berlin.

Having done a lot of traveling in my life, I was shocked to learn only a few months ago that there is a GENIUS way to fold your shirts for packing that I hadn’t previously known about. This is a life-changer, folks! Or, at least, a travel-changer. This method creates a snug little self-contained sausage roll that won’t unfold in your suitcase. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: lay the shirt out face-down and smooth out any wrinklesStep 2: turn up the bottom edge by about 12cm/4 – 5 inches as if you were turning up a pant cuffStep 3: fold in one side by a third. Fold the sleeve neatly if necessary.Step 3: fold in the other side to overlap and fold the sleeve in so you have a long rectangle.Step 4: starting at the top, begin tightly rolling the shirt down towards the turned-up hem.Roll all the way to the bottom, smoothing out wrinkles as you go.Step 5: flip the turned-up hem to wrap around the rolled shirt to hold everything in place.That’s it! Now you have a neatly rolled up bundle that you can throw in a suitcase and it won’t unfold into a jumbled mess!It’s even better if you put your little sausage-rolled shirts into a packing cube like this one…they come in various sizes and make rifling through your suitcase a breeze, with no re-folding necessary.

As long as we’re on the subject of travel, please enjoy some snaps of street art I took around Berlin.

A model of the Titanic made of chocolate…and a chocolate Brandenburg Gate in the background. Spot the excited Lori.

Phew! Time for a beer…or two.

I made a point of taking pictures at two very different fabric depots in Berlin…will share those with you in another post.

I also don’t get the hype about Scout; that said, yours fits well and looks great. And thanks for the packing tip. I use packing cubes for my large family already but this method is going to be so helpful!

Thanks, Laura! The pants are both ready to wear. The pedal pusher jeans are “Hell Bunny” brand (love that name), but I expect Patterns by Gertie would have a similar pattern available. The wide-leg trousers are from Zara but before I decided to buy them, I was ogling the very similar Megan Nielsen Flint pants (see https://megannielsen.com/products/flint)

I would never have guessed that this tee began life as a beach sarong! It’s great as a woven top, for sure. =)

I cannot believe the Scout pattern costs that much now–I bought it a few years ago and I *know* I didn’t pay that for it. (Okay, I had to look it up: I paid $9.50 for it in 2014.) I do still wear the one I made, but I doubt I’ll use the pattern again, simply because I have so many other things I’d rather make. It’s a great pattern for showing off a cool fabric though, just as you’ve done here!